Gaming is the new Glastonbury and Game is back on the main stage

Bust in 2012, floating on the stock market in 2014, the retailer has gone from famine to feast by adopting a new model of customer service and is now a global market leader for titles such as Minecraft

‘Retail used to lead,’ says Martyn Gibbs, pictured at the Insomnia Gaming Festival at Birmingham’s NEC. Now companies like Game listen to what customers want. ‘It’s a different ideology’ (Andrew Fox)

Once the preserve of moody teenagers, hidden under their duvets for hours on end blinking at a computer screen, the gaming industry has expanded into a world where it is socially acceptable to be shooting zombies with friends across the globe or discussing Minecraft strategies round the dinner table with the family.

But when Game went bust in 2012 with the instant closure of 277 stores and nearly 2,500 redundancies, few would have believed that this once-lumbering retailer would now be at the forefront of this fast-growing market.

Last year Game Digital re-joined the stock market with a valuation of £340m, and although it has had difficulties, like a profit warning in January, it appears to have won over gamers by eschewing the typical traits of retailers, which can involve telling the customer what they want, rather than listening to their needs.

Chief executive Martyn Gibbs, in his first interview since listing, explained: “We’ve been very focused on the one headline that rules everything in the last three and a half years, which is to build the most valuable community of gamers, and we talk about that one sentence so passionately that it’s embedded in everything we do.

“Retail used to lead, dragging customers with it, but we stand alongside now and aid and support everything they want to do, and it’s a very different ideology. It’s about having the right products – that the community is craving –rather than telling them what they should be craving. It’s very much that we’re a sidekick. We are the least egotistical business you can meet.”

That philosophy appears to be working, as the company recently mad a pre-tax profit of £25.8m on sales of £866.6m, thanks to a focus on exclusive products, building an online and high-street presence, and keeping gamers happy.

But getting there was not easy; relations had to be rebuilt with suppliers, and keeping up with the fast-paced sector would prove challenging.

Mr Gibbs, who is currently working his way through the latest Tomb Raider game, explained: “We have moved so much from buying a product at a certain price with so many units to being far more about putting the gamers first and thinking ‘what do they want?’ rather than ‘this is what you’re having’.”

Microsoft and Sony now visit Game’s stores four times a year to find out what customers want, and Mr Gibbs added there is recognition that what’s right today is going to be slightly different tomorrow.

The focus is on content – releasing exclusive versions of 18 of the top 20 computer games – and welcoming customers to stores even if they just want to play the latest shoot ’em up.

But where can Game go from here? And what does the future hold for this market?

Entering the Birmingham NEC, it was pretty clear where it sees a big part of that future, as the Insomnia Gaming Festival welcomed 50,000 people over three days last weekend.

Birmingham council, which owns the arena, opened the building overnight for the first time as visitors pitched tents and turned it into a three-day festival, with music, bars and meet-and-greets, as well as all the gaming.

Game Digital is so keen on the event – the biggest of its kind in the UK – that it bought Multiplay, the company behind the spectaculars, for £20m earlier this year.

Walking round the arena, where the biggest names in the industry were showing off their latest products and gadgets, it was clear this is more than just a teenage fandom event, as families ambled through and areas like the Minecraft section hosted children as young as five playing the wildly popular game.

Then there were the 1,500 hardcore gamers who had brought their own computers and hooked up to a dedicated internet line where they could sit and play, surrounded by their mates.

Multiplay founder Craig Fletcher, who started the business as a hobby with 20 friends and their computers in a hotel in Southampton playing Doom II, explained why it was so popular and why gamers would prefer to meet and play in a big arena, rather than stay at home. He said: “You can listen to music in your bedroom, so why do you go to Glastonbury? You go for exactly the same reason, even down to the tents, the camping, the people, the social events, the music and DJs. It’s the Glastonbury of gaming because it is a celebration of all things games.”

It is now so big that the prize money on offer is several thousands of pounds and draws crowds also in their thousands. Another 11 million watch it live online.

As Mr Fletcher explained: “Gaming is just a part of life now and no longer a taboo like it was when I was growing up.

“We’re now moving to a place where people are fighting with the idea that other people want to watch gamers. But e-sports is massive and is the next $1bn industry.”

And the numbers bear that out – the average Twitch viewing session, which streams people playing games, lasts 28 minutes – and in 2013 the average user watched 106 minutes of gameplay per day.

In South Korea, for example, the industry will play host to arenas full of fans watching professional gamers, with some prize pots for tournaments of several million pounds. Last year, 833 players shared $17.6m (£11.8m) between them.

So with the UK only just scratching the surface of the future of gaming, it is no wonder Mr Gibbs is keen to take full advantage.

Game’s black day

Game was one of the biggest losers from Black Friday last year. The company severely underestimated the demand as people snapped up low- margin Playstation 4s and Xbox Ones at rock-bottom prices. The result was a profit warning.

Mr Gibbs said: “We saw the fervour building three weeks before Black Friday 2014. We planned for activity, but the reality is, what we saw here in the UK was off the chart. It just shows how quickly and how much consumer behaviour can change.”

He pointed out that Game did at least avoid the fights that broke out at Tesco and Asda – as his staff were used to eager customers due to managing midnight gaming launches throughout the year.

Black Friday this year was a different story; another profit warning is highly unlikely